The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse

Inside the box was a Beretta m9 pistol, a bag of magazines, a combat knife, and a backpack filled with survival gear. Princess Celestia, Luna, and possibly Cadence had used their magic to bring me a loaded gun and a combat knife, straight from Earth.

"What is it?" Twi asked.

"Oh ... uh, it's nothing. I'm just gonna take this box outside. You guys can keep talking the plan through." I picked up the box and started for the door. Dash stopped me before I could leave. "Come on Devan, this is a desperate situation. We all gotta know what's going on, and what's that box," she implied.

"It's just some stuff from my world, there's no-" before I finished, Dash grabbed the box forcefully and we fought for it shortly before it fell out of my hands and the stuff fell out. Some of the gear fell at the legs of Twi and Rarity and the pistol fell in front of Dash. I quickly grabbed the knife.

"So a knife, some other supplies, and whatever that is?" Twi stepped up.

"What is this?" Dash was looking down the barrel.

"Don't!" I snagged the gun quickly; cautiously.

"Devan, what's your problem?" Dash looked me over intently.

"This thing is very dangerous! I'm just being protective."

"What does it do?"

I took a quick breath. "I can't show you now. Maybe later. Just know that it can kill you if you're not careful."

The others looked around at each other nervously.

"Celestia wants you to use force?" AJ asked.

"I don't know." I picked up the letter and kept reading.

I know you may think we're crazy, but trust me, there will be an end to this. You have to use force to protect Twi and the others. Get them over here when everybody thinks it's safe. We know that there is a spell to turn the zombie ponies back to normal. We can handle them when the time comes. The equipment is for protection. Use it at your own will.

After finishing the letter, I let it float to the ground. "Why can't we just send unicorns and earth ponies to Cloudsdale while we try to find the cure?" I asked.

Everypony looked at each other.

"Devan ... just as odd as it is that the unicorns have lost their magic, pegasi have been losing their flight. Our wings are really numb right now, and we don't know why," Dash stammered.

The thoughts I had about Cloudsdale were knocked straight out of my head, and splattered on the floor.

"Well then ..." I tried to digest it all, "Celestia wants us to head to the castle when we can."

"Alright. Before we go, I want to gather up as many ponies as possible and board up the castle, so ..." she let out the game plan, and we all followed, "Rarity, you and me can search my library for the cure. Dash and Flutters, you two go out and find Zecora. Bring her here. If she's not at the hut, come straight back. Discord, can you get over to the princesses and see if they're alright? If they are, come back here and help us secure the castle. AJ and Devan ..." She looked at me for a second. "You two scavenge around, and gather as many ponies as you can. We have to move fast. This will be over soon."

I couldn't help but wonder about the princesses' thoughts. What were they thinking? If there was a cure to turn ponies back ... then why would I use force and actually kill one of them? It wouldn't matter if they turned anyway, would it?

That got me thinking about my bite. I had almost forgotten about it. I didn't think telling the others would do any good. I hadn't felt any signs of turning or any nausea. I thought that maybe I could wait until I started turning to tell them, but I also took note that I couldn't wait too long.

"Uh, may Devan come with me instead? And Flutters can go with AJ?" Dash asked.

"Fine, just get to Zecora quickly," Twi cautioned us.

Everypony headed out the door, and Twi let all the ponies outside in. Discord had made a snap exit to get to the princesses. AJ and Flutters ran with us until we reached the first house. They entered the house while Dash and I kept running to the forest.

"Look, can we talk when we get to the forest? Like, slow down a bit?" Dash requested.

"Okay," I nodded.

We slowed down when we were a little ways through the forest. I found it odd we hadn't run into any zombie ponies on the way, but it surely wasn't a bad thing.

"What do you wanna know?" I asked sadly.

"Did you see her turn?"

"Yeah. I was ..."

"You were what?"

"I was hugging her when she did."

"Oh."

We continued to slowly jog through the forest.

"Did you know about her being bit?" she glanced at me.

"I didn't know until we got here." I looked around, knowing that we were getting close to where Pinkie had turned. Just like that, I saw a shadow through the fog. Dash and I came to a stop.

"Think that's her?" she asked.

"That's her," I mumbled.

"What should we do?"

I thought for a minute. When Pinkie was lobbing at me before, she had gone quite faster than I had thought she actually would. There was a chance we could just sprint around her, but there might be consequences. I looked around at the trees. No sign of openings or pathways. Pinkie had probably already noticed us anyways. It looked extremely creepy, and every once in a while I saw stirring through the leaves.

"I don't think we can just run through, and there's no shortcuts around. At least, no shortcuts that I know of. I really don't know," I continued to think.

There was a slight grumble behind us, followed by definite footsteps. Both of us turned around to see a pony with holes in his legs, half of his gums showing on one side, and a chipped ear. He was splattered with blood, and his eyes were whitish as Pinkie's had been.

"We gotta get to Zecora's," she insisted.

"Let's go!" I started running towards her silhouette . We couldn't see her clearly, but I had a feeling it had to be-

We stopped in our tracks. There were now two of them in front of us. One of them we hadn't expected.